Meditation and Contemplation

[Bob Crowley]

I admit I'm nowhere near consistent enough with my devotional life.

But I've long been unable to understand the difference between Meditation and Contemplation.

I'm talking here of Christian meditation and contemplation - not other methods. No doubt other forms of meditation have their uses and their adherents, but I'd like to know the difference between Christian meditation and Christian contemplation.

Can anyone give me a succinct explanation of the difference between the two?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Andrewn]

"In discursive meditation, mind and imagination and other faculties are actively employed in an effort to understand our relationship with God.[71][72] In contemplative prayer, this activity is curtailed, so that contemplation has been described as "a gaze of faith", "a silent love".[note 13] There is no clear-cut boundary between Christian meditation and Christian contemplation, and they sometimes overlap. Meditation serves as a foundation on which the contemplative life stands, the practice by which someone begins the state of contemplation.[73]

"John of the Cross described the difference between discursive meditation and contemplation by saying:

The difference between these two conditions of the soul is like the difference between working, and enjoyment of the fruit of our work; between receiving a gift, and profiting by it; between the toil of travelling and the rest of our journey's end".[74][75]
"Mattá al-Miskīn, an Oriental Orthodox monk has posited:

Meditation is an activity of one's spirit by reading or otherwise, while contemplation is a spontaneous activity of that spirit. In meditation, man's imaginative and thinking power exert some effort. Contemplation then follows to relieve man of all effort. Contemplation is the soul's inward vision and the heart's simple repose in God.[73]

Christian contemplation - Wikipedia

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

Yes, and how about meditating on the symbols and meaning of scripture. Then silently contemplating the beauty of a sunset.

 

[Scott Husted]

Comptemplation should lead one to the quietness of meditation ...

 

[JimR-OCDS]

Contemplation is a gift from God. It is the soul's experience of being in the presence of God, who dwells within.

Meditation, or what is now called "Christian Meditations, Contemplative Prayer," or "Centering Prayer" or formerly , "Quiet Prayer," is not contemplation. The prayer method opens the soul to Contemplation, but it is God who gives the gift, not the prayer itself, nor the desire of the soul.

Keep in mind that the word, "contemplation," was not in St Teresa's or St John of the Cross vocabulary. The word evolved from the spiritual writers over the centuries after.

St Teresa and St John used the term, "interior prayer," or "higher form of prayer."

Both meant, "contemplative prayer."

Also, St. Teresa coined the term, "Mental Prayer," which merely meant that the soul was aware of being in the presence of God whenever they prayed, regardless of the method of prayer they used.
We should all have this presence of mind when praying.